


angel of the morning

by barryallenisravenclaw



Category: DCU (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics), The Flash (Comics)
Genre: Barry gets wasted, Drinking, For reasons, I got grossed out writing it, M/M, Mild Angst, Off world, Sickfic, TW: Vomit, Tamaran (DCU), Well - Freeform, basically they go to Tamaran and get wasted, but you can kinda skip some of it I think, if taking care of a drunk counts as a sickfic, the end is cute anyway, there's a lot of vomit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:49:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27115663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barryallenisravenclaw/pseuds/barryallenisravenclaw
Summary: If Hal were a skeezier guy, he'd be real happy right now. If he weren't in love with Barry, he'd be even happier. As it was, Hal just wanted to make sure Barry didn't feel like shit in the morning.tw: vomit, uncleanliness
Relationships: Barry Allen/Hal Jordan, Barry Allen/iris West (referenced)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 25





	angel of the morning

**Author's Note:**

> I based this off of a time a few weeks ago when my roommate got totally blackout wasted and I took care of him. I tried to make it more about the boys than about me but you be the judge lol
> 
> title is the same title as a Merilee Rush song you may remember from Deadpool XD

The night had started out like any other in their last month on Tamaran- with jazz.

Hal didn't really know why the UN Secretary-General had sent he and Barry to chat up the Tamaranian Royal Family, but he wasn't about to pass up a free trip with one of his best friends. They were technically working for the two months they were meant to be there, but the Tamaranians already loved Earth. They wouldn't let that Starfire woman stay if they didn't like the place. Still, Hal felt periodically bad that Barry couldn't see his girlfriend for those two entire months.

Hal, however, had gotten used to it out of necessity. Whenever he was gone, he missed Barry more than any of the people he dated. He knew no one he was with could really understand the schedule of a Green Lantern, so he gave up trying to make long distance work. Barry and Iris, though, they never had to deal with long distance. No matter where Barry was on Earth, he could always run back to her in a matter of an hour. The guy had to be taking the lack of communication pretty badly.

Hal thinks that's why Barry got completely wasted that night.

The two "ambassadors" from Earth were staying with Iris's nephew's friend's friend. That is to say, a woman named S'thartha who knew Starfire. The primary downside of this arrangement, though there weren't many as S'thartha was a wonderful hostess, was all of the jazz. Hal hated jazz. He couldn't say it to S'thartha of course, and Barry seemed to be enjoying himself enough whenever they went out, but jazz made him want to get drunk just to forget having heard the music at all.

It was the combined factors of Hal's musical aversions and Barry's apparent desire to get his mind off of Iris that led to them getting pretty thoroughly shitfaced back at S'thartha's after a truly impressively jazzy performance. She had invited her friend, a guy named Adr'nani who played the bass-like instrument in a combo, to come over after his performance. Adr'nani invited a lot of other people.

"S'thartha?" Barry asked over the noise as more people filed in and threw their coats on Hal's favorite chair. "What's the strongest drink you have?"

Hal did a sharp double take at the question. He had never seen Barry drunk before, obviously. He hadn't known Barry before his lab accident, and it was now impossible for him to get drunk. Well, as far as they knew. Barry was apparently aiming to test that hypothesis. He'd just finished his beer before S'thartha passed him a fourth of a bottle of... something brown.

"Admiral N'cartha's rum?" Hal read the translation off of his ring. "Barry, I've heard of this stuff, it's strong. Are you sure you wanna try it?"

"I'll drink the rest of the bottle and see how I'm doing," Barry said, cutting him off. Hal's mouth dropped open as he watched his friend chug half of what he had been given in a single go. When he stopped, Barry looked back up at Hal and grinned.

"What?" He said. Something twisted in Hal's stomach.

"Just impressed a new drinker like you could take the taste that easily," Hal covered. Barry didn't press to find out why he was blushing, just smiled and took another small swig.

"It's not bad, its actually pretty sweet." Hal stared in disbelief as his friend continued to be able to hold a conversation. "You wanna try it?"

Hal shook his head and physically stepped away, laughing lightly. "Ah, no thanks, Bar. I've seen that shit take out Kilowag."

"Really?" Barry raised his eyebrows and held up the bottle for further scrutiny.

"You dork," Hal snorted and took the bottle from him, having the ring give a more detailed translation of the label. The gist of it was that non-meta humans and most aliens should be very careful if they drink it at all.

"Well," Barry laughed and took it back from Hal, taking another swing. "I guess I'll just have to be a bit more careful."

"Friend Hal?" Adr'nani said, coming up from behind the counter. Hal nodded and Adr'nani grabbed him by the shoulders and kissed him. Hal had sort of been expecting it, S'thartha had done the same thing to him when they'd first arrived, but it still took him off guard. It was pretty perfunctory, which actually threw Hal off more than it would have if Adr'nani had suddenly kissed him deeply in the middle of a crowded room.

Barry laughed at them from behind his hand.

"Forgive me, friend Hal," Adr'nani started to explain. "I needed to explain the drinks to you and now I can look after you and friend Barry when S'thartha is busy."

"Oh, no worries, man," Hal chuckled and ran his hand through the back of his own hair. "Princess Koriand'r introduced us to that practice when she first arrived on Earth."

"Wonderful!" Adr'nani exclaimed. He turned around and grabbed two drinks off of a serving tray and handed them both to Hal. "These are good. They are both part acidic fruit and not so strong as to hurt your delicate physiology."

Hal had the distinct impression that if he were of Tamaran, he would be insulted by that comment. As it was, he was well used to paying attention to his alcoholic limitations while on other planets. He drank half of one of them and turned back to Barry, intending to make a joke, but he was gone.

"Where did-" Hal started.

"Oh, S'thartha wanted to show him something in the kitchen," Adr'nani explained. "You did not notice as you were examining your drink."

Barry must actually be a little tipsy if he walked away from Hal without saying anything. All the same, Hal wanted to get a visual on him to make sure Adr'nani wasn't lying.

He and Adr'nani walked to the back of the house to the kitchen, and Hal couldn't help but laugh at what he saw. S'thartha could not stop laughing and Barry was taking a video of the floor. They appeared to have spilled grain on the tiles and thought it was hilarious. Hal shook his head and turned away. He didn't want to miss Barry being drunk, especially since they were on a different planet and he needed to keep an eye on the poor guy, but he looked like he was doing okay for now. He’d overheard a few people talking about cards and he wanted to try his hand.

He let Adr'nani lead him into the next room where they played several rounds of a card game Hal didn't understand with some people who didn't bother to kiss him and therefore he had no idea what they were saying. Somehow, Hal had won three rounds in a row and their new friends weren't terribly happy about that. Hal was further surprised by his winning streak as he had now had three of the odd citrus drinks Adr'nani gave him. Maybe they weren't that strong after all. Hal suggested that he and Adr'nani go check on Barry and they left the table, escaping the inevitable ire of the other players.

"No no no," Barry was yelling in the kitchen, "lemme finish. You're such a good person, S'thartha and you're super nice to let us stay here and stuff and I think-"

"Barry," S'thartha cut him off, though Barry didn't notice at first and kept talking for a moment. "Barry Barry, you're so nice just stop it. Why are you so nice?"

"S'thartha, you're not listening to me!" Barry replied. "You're the nice person! Ask... ask Adrianini... Adr'nanana... ask Hal! He'll tell you you're nice, they're right there and you should ask them."

S'thartha turned around and saw the two of them standing in the doorway. She broke into a grin and went to give Adr'nani a hug. "You guys! You're literally so good!"

Hal worked hard to suppress his laughter as he surveyed the room. There was no longer grain on the floor, but there were a lot of small wrappers littered about and the bottle Barry had been drinking out of was completely empty. Hal checked his ring to find that they had only been drinking for about three hours.

He offered a platitude to S'thartha as he squeezed past her into the kitchen. She took it and tried to give him a hug, but Adr'nani distracted her. Hal was really starting to like this guy, despite the jazz thing. He grabbed Barry's elbow and led him over to the table on the right side of the room.

"Hi, Hal!" Barry exclaimed. He sat down heavily and couldn't really look Hal in the eye.

"Hey, buddy, how are you feeling?" Hal asked. He really should have been keeping a better eye on him. He knew Barry was in a weird place tonight, he should have known better than to drink alongside him and expect that to work out alright. He could at least get the poor guy some water.

"Good," Barry nodded slowly. "You should with the record that the... the men... the John one from '74 is one I have and it's good but scratchy good."

Oh, boy.

"Here, Bar, drink this," Hal said holding up a cup of water right in front of Barry's mouth. He still had the speedster by the elbow, too.

Barry opened his mouth but didn't really get much water into himself before he was throwing up.

"Adr'nani!" Hal exclaimed at the same time as the two Tamaranians swore. They had evidently been watching and not doing anything.

"Okay, buddy," Barry continued letting it out in waves, and Hal started rubbing his back. "Alright, you're ok. That's my hand on your back and it's gonna stay there a while. We're gonna get you a bin now, okay?" Adr'nani handed Hal a trash bin and they got it under Barry just before a big wave hit him.

"Okay honey," Hal said, every nickname that wanted to come out of his mouth jumbling together. Barry finished with that wave of sick and Hal grabbed his left hand, steadying him. "Okay, we're going to go into the bathroom and get you settled now. You're gonna stand up in one, two--" Hal pulled and Barry came with. He wasn't holding the trash bin himself, Hal was. Hal's right hand was in Barry's and his left was holding the bin right up under Barry's chin. It was only a few steps into the bathroom, if they could--

Barry vomited again as they stepped into the bathroom, but successfully transitioned into vomiting into the toilet.

"Beautiful, baby, you're doing perfect,” Hal quickly washed his hands and started rubbing Barry's back in circles again. He looked up as Barry continued vomiting to find Adr'nani standing in the doorway.

"Here," he said, handing the trash bin to the alien. "Throw that out for me and get a new one. Where's S'thartha?" Hal looked down to find Barry's hands both falling into the toilet and dragged them back up and out. Barry already had vomit on his clothes, he didn't need to spread the mess further.

"Cleaning!" S'thartha yelled from outside the bathroom. "Halfway through cleaning off the table."

Hal sighed as the two aliens continued in their appointed tasks. Barry had stopped for the moment, but was still leaning entirely on the toilet with his face pointing down.

"You really know how to party, little buddy," Hal said absently. Barry continued breathing heavily and didn't respond. Hal figured he wouldn't remember much of this in the morning.

"Ring: time?"

" _One third of the way to Tamaran sunrise. Equivalent of 12:30am earth time._ "

Hal chuckled. "You hear that, Bar? You're down for the count and it's not even 1am. Next time space it out a little, huh?"

Barry shifted his arm and it went back into the toilet. Hal sighed and pulled it back out. On its way back up to get washed again, Hal's hand brushed past Barry's hair. Somehow, back at the table Hal presumed, Barry had gotten a bit of sick into his hair and his eyebrow.

Hal sighed. He couldn't stick Barry in the shower yet, he'd just get colder than the alcohol was already making him. And anyway, with the amount that Barry seemed to want to drop his arms into the toilet, he was likely going to stay messy for a while until he sobered up enough to talk again. Of course, Hal had absolutely no idea how long that would take. Kilowag had only had one shot of what Barry had had, and then immediately passed out. Thankfully, they had been on Oa celebrating and therefore Kilowag could simply be taken to a med center and taken care of. Here, though...

It had been years since Hal had had to help someone through alcohol poisoning, at least since his early days in the Air Force. To make matters worse, on an alien planet they wouldn't be able to get much help at a hospital. Tamaranian doctors would have no idea what to do with a normal human, let alone Barry. Hal certainly didn't know what to do, that's why he was considering his options after all, so he wouldn't be able to tell a doctor what to do any better.

Why did he leave Barry by himself? Why didn't he stay with him the whole night? He had certainly wanted to.

Hal positioned himself on the floor next to Barry and prepared himself to get pretty grossed out. Barry wasn't exactly _covered_ in sick, but there was enough on his front that Hal was going to end up sticking his arms in it when he inevitably had to lift him away from the toilet.

"Anything else?" Adr'nani said, appearing in the doorway with a clean bin and a roll of what appeared to be paper towels but weren't made out of paper.

"Cup of water would be great after a little while," Hal said. Adr'nani nodded and walked off again. Hal needed to stick with what he knew. Water was good for drunk people once they could handle it. He had to keep Barry hydrated. Of course he'd have to wait for the vomiting to stop, but Hal didn't mind. He'd sit there all night with Barry, taking care of him.

Hal had started humming an old favorite without realizing it. Maybe he was drunker than he thought he was. He knew he couldn't remember all of the words to the verses, so he settled for continuing to hum. It was sort of funny, humming Alcohol by the Barenaked Ladies, but he couldn't get a different song to come to him through his worry.

Barry vomited suddenly and Hal grabbed his shoulder, putting a steady pressure on his back.

"Well now, it looks like someone is really gunning for first place." Barry vomited again, stronger this time. "Aha! That clinches it! Never before have I seen a more impressive puke. This is truly one for the record books, my friend."

Someone appeared at the door, so Hal stuck his hand up to take the cup of water from Adr'nani without looking. His hand was completely bypassed as not Adr'nani, but S'thartha collapsed on the floor of the bathroom on Barry's other side and draped herself over Barry's back.

"Oh, dear friend Barry, you are doing so wonderfully right now," she reassured him, stroking his shoulders and back all over. Barry didn't move, but he grunted a little bit.

Hal wanted to punch her. "That's S'thartha on your back, Bar." You have to announce your presence and what you're going to do to someone who's drunk. "She's sitting on your right and those are her hands on your back."

Barry didn't do anything for a few minutes as S'thartha continued to lay across his back and exclaim encouragement. Hal tried not to let his anger show on his face. He could handle this. He was handling this. What was she going to do that Hal couldn't?

_Okay, Hal, don’t start getting jealous of a drunk alien._

"Masterfully done, my dear Barry," Hal said in his previous jovial tone as Barry vomited again. He was speaking just below his normal volume. S'thartha was whispering in Barry's ear and nearly getting her hair in the toilet. Hal tried not to be too mad as she was clearly pretty damn drunk herself.

Barry shifted his entire body away from S'thartha and leaned heavily on Hal. He couldn't help but take that as a small victory. He may not know exactly what to do with a drunk Barry, but he could still read his best friend when he was distressed.

Adr'nani was still standing in the doorway. As S'thartha moved to drape herself over Barry again, Hal decided he couldn't handle it. He announced his intention, put his hand on the middle of Barry's back, and made eye contact with Adr'nani. S'thartha hardly noticed and simply continued stroking Barry in an increasingly sexual way.

_Get her out of here_ Hal mouthed and motioned as best he could with one hand. Adr'nani got the picture and made a sympathetic face.

"Hey, S'thartha?" Hal thanked the powers that be that Adr'nani had had the foresight to only have two drinks at the start of the night and then nothing else. "Syth?" He received a long hum in response. "How are you feeling, do you and I need to go up to the other bathroom?"

"No..." S'thartha smiled, eyes closed but facing the correct target. "I'm helping Barry now. He needs us to be here for him. I can be the mom and Hal can be the dad!" She moved to wink at Hal suggestively. "I can tell we've both been wanting this for a while now. We can help him when he's sick and he'll love us for it."

Sweet Christmas.

Hal had an inkling that S'thartha found both of them attractive. Hell, she had propositioned Hal when they first showed up at her door and he had to explain to her that while he was flattered, that wasn't exactly what he was looking for at the moment. What he really meant was that he could never do anything in front of Barry. He'd stopped being able to flirt seriously in front of Barry a long time ago.

Still, this was an entire other level of crazy. The fact that she had implied that their feelings were the same was enough of a shock. Hal was... Hal would do anything for Barry. He'd shown that countless times in battle and when Barry needed to talk. He'd been there to actually listen to the man, something that almost no one else ever does. A lot of people look at Hal and think he's simply going to use people and find ways to serve his own needs. Barry had never looked at Hal that way. Barry understood why Hal was the way he was and and he accepted that. In return, Hal grew to be able to understand Barry. They had a bond, and even though it was not the degree of bond Hal wished they had, it nevertheless existed. For S'thartha to imply that after knowing Barry for a month she could even come close to the depth of regard and understanding that they have for each other put Hal into a fury only partially fueled by the alcohol in his own system.

Hal was about to tell her to step off and get out, let him handle this, when Barry moved. He started shaking. Hal was on him in an instant. Barry using his speed could be good, could maybe get his speedster system to work through the alcohol faster. The shakes were bad.

"Barry?" Hal said, getting as close to his fellow hero as he dared. "Barry Allen I need you to take a deep breath. "Barry, I can't touch you when you're speeding and I need to touch you to help you." It was clear that he was speeding now, but it was a meta-enhanced form of the shakes.

"Get a blanket," Hal snapped at Adr'nani. S'thartha kept trying to touch Barry and moving her hand away like she was being shocked. "S'thartha don't touch him, he's dangerous like this." She moved away from Barry but didn't stop commenting on how "great" he was doing.

"Barry," Hal stated loudly and clearly. "Barry Henry Allen. Barry Allen." Finally, Barry's head turned to look at him. Hal focused in on the blurred blue spots peeking from under his mostly closed eyelids. "You are using the speedforce right now. You need to stop so that I can help you. Think about your anchor. You said that's important, right? When you're going too fast? What's your anchor, Barry?"

Barry shuddered and shuddered. Adr'nani came back and handed Hal the blanket he found. Hal kept saying his last sentence until he could see Barry properly slowing down.

"You're going to lay down now," Hal told him. His blond friend slumped to the ground in the space of half a second. "You need to stop using your speed, baby, please. I can't keep you warm when you're about to speed your way through me. Come on, baby, you can do this."

"Hal?" Barry asked, finally fully on the floor and not shaking. Hal was leaning over him, the opposite side of Barry's body from the toilet. He carefully draped Adr'nani's blanket over his friend.

"I'm not gonna lie to you, sweetheart, you had me scared there for a second," Hal said, trying to lend a light tone to his voice as much as possible.

"Hal," Barry stated. He grabbed Hal's hand and wouldn't let go.

Hal couldn't help it, he was staring. Even now, spit all over his face, eyes closed, brow knit in pain and concentration, even now Hal could see the beauty in this man before him. Barry's grasp wasn't strong, but Hal's could be strong for both of them.

This display was apparently pointed enough for S'thartha to get the picture. When Hal looked up a few minutes later she was gone. Adr'nani walked by the doorway to the bathroom one more time and gave Hal a high sign, showing that all was well. He told Adr'nani to go get Barry a change of clothes from his room before the Tamaran wished them goodbye.

"Oh, honey," Hal sighed and stroked Barry's hair out of his face. "What am I gonna do with you?"

"I did it," Barry said slowly. "I didn't ever do it but now I did it."

"What did you do, baby?" Hal was much more impressed by the length of that statement than disappointed by the lack of sense that it made.

"Drunk." Barry said, eyes falling closed. Hal sighed. As long as Barry was on his side, it was probably a good idea to let him sleep for a little bit. Hal would prefer it didn't happen on a bathroom floor, but he didn't really want to leave the bathroom until he could get Barry in the shower.

They were there for about an hour, Hal sitting with Barry's head on his thigh, Barry curled up on the floor under his blanket. As usual when Barry was sick on the job, Hal was just happy to be able to help. He had thought it was funny before, the way Barry was acting, all loose and cheerful. Hal hadn't seen him that open in... well, a little while at least. Hal was too tipsy to remember properly. He was usually the one to act like that. He was appreciating the role reversal that taking care of Barry meant, even though the circumstances were subpar at best.

Barry really was just a wonderful person. He was always paying attention, always looking out for other people's feelings and making sure they were okay. Some people took advantage of that, though they usually didn't realize it, and Hal tried to keep an eye out for it. As great as it was to have him there to look out for everyone else, Barry tended to forget about himself. No, that wasn't right. Barry didn't forget about his own needs, he just ignored them when he felt that they conflicted with the needs of others.

Barry missed out on a lot.

"Ow," Barry grunted, shifting his hips so that they were parallel to the floor instead of perpendicular. "Why are we floor?"

Hal couldn't help but smile. "You've been asleep for about an hour. Threw up a lot."

"Wha-" Barry started to sit up suddenly, but the apparent lurch in his stomach set him back down again. "Wow. Okay, no. But how did..." Barry's eyebrows scrunched together. "Why did I throw up at all?"

"You-" Hal cut himself off before he could laugh. Can't laugh at a drunk, even when they're as sweet as Barry. "What's the last thing you remember, Bar?"

Barry finally opened his eyes long enough to make contact with Hal's. He wasn't really able to focus his gaze, but Hal held it anyway.

_Sweet little Barry._

"Adr'nani came up and..." his eyebrows scrunched together again and his eyes focused on Hal's a little stronger. "Kissed you? Why did he do that, I didn't like that."

"Then what," Hal prompted. He'd think about that later. Drunk talk didn’t mean anything anyway.

"S'thartha came and got me," Barry continued. "She said kitchen... that's it."

"Wow," Hal raised his eyebrows, grinning at his friend. "That Admiral N'cartha makes some strong drink indeed."

"Mmm," Barry closed his eyes again and turned to be fully on his back. "Hal, why is my hair sticky?"

"Well," Hal winced. "You're gonna want to take a shower in a few minutes here." Barry's single squinted eye and raised eyebrow were more than enough to get his point across.

"Let's wake you up a little, alright, babe?” Barry nodded his acceptance of that plan. "Ok, I'm gonna need you to lift yourself up as much as you can. I've got water right here for you and we're just gonna take little sips." Barry did as he was asked, sitting up against the wall across from Hal but not too far away. He was soon able to open his eyes a little wider and actually look at Hal properly.

"I'm sorry," Barry sighed. "I don't know what-"

"Nope," Hal cut him off. He was not about to let Barry get all sad on him. "I'm having a great time. Hanging out with you on the floor like this is my favorite pastime. I can't imagine a better night." Barry snorted and lightly swatted Hal's knee. "No really honey, no where else in the galaxy I'd rather be than with you."

Hal blushed once he realized what he'd said. Better cover that quickly.

"How's that water treatin you?" He asked. Barry had an odd expression on his face but he let Hal slide anyway.

"Pretty good so far," Barry stated. "Only havin a little bit."

"Perfect plan, my man." Hal refrained from saying anything after that, worried both about putting his foot in his mouth but also about confusing Barry. Too much sarcasm was likely to cause problems here, and sarcasm was Hal's primary mode of communication.

It had been about another half an hour when Barry finished his water and Hal spoke again.

"Boy, I bet Iris would be surprised by tonight, huh?" Barry's face crumpled. Oops, bad idea. "Not that I think she'd be mad or anything, I just-"

"Doesn't matter," Barry mumbled. He had his face in his hands. "She'd be surprised, yeah, but it doesn't really matter what she thinks, does it?" Hal was at a loss, so he just let Barry decide whether to keep talking or reinstate the quiet. He opted for quiet.

After a few minutes of sitting in silence, Hal decided to break it again by asking a few questions.

"How's your stomach?"

"Lousy," was the reply. Hal rolled his eyes affectionately.

"I mean, do you think you'll throw up again soon or not so much?"

Barry took a minute to puzzle that one out and asess his situation. Finally, he landed on "nope, that's done now."

"You-" Hal allowed himself a moment to be shocked. He knew the speedster metabolism was fast, but this was absolutely unheard of. "Ring: time?"

_"3:30am,"_ the ring replied. Hal's jaw dropped. Three hours. Three hours and something that sent Kilowag to the hospital was halfway out of Barry's system.

"Hal, do you think I could get that shower now?" Barry asked sweetly. He dropped his disposable water cup into the nearest bin and smiled slowly.

Hal debated for a moment. He wanted Barry to be comfortable, but he didn’t want his friend to hurt himself. He must have taken too long, because Barry whined.

“Come on, Hallie, my face feels gross and I don’t like it.” Hal blushed. Barry had never called him that before, and he liked it more than he would ever admit.

“Can you stand up?” He asked instead. Barry smiled softy and grabbed onto the now covered toilet to keep his balance. He went slowly, but he made it to his feet successfully. Hal whistled.

“Well, count me impressed. Yeah, Bar, go for it, take your shower.” Hal went to turn leave the bathroom and leave Barry his privacy when a crash sounded behind him. He whipped around to find Barry sitting sprawled out on the floor of the shower, shamefaced but smiling still nonetheless.

“Maybe bad idea,” he said.

“What did you just do?” Hal stepped over and checked Barry for injuries. He didn’t notice that the water was running until his arms had already gotten wet.

“I always speed through my showers so they don’t take up so much time,” Barry answered. He blinked up at Hal like nothing was wrong. Technically, nothing was, he didn’t have any injuries. Realistically…

“Listen, Bar,” Hal sighed. There was only one course of action now. “You sit right there, I’m gonna help you.” Barry happily clapped his hands, seemingly without noticing, and sat quietly while he waited for Hal.

Hal couldn’t believe he was going to do this to himself. The entire time he’d known the guy, he’d wanted in his pants, and he first time he’s ever gotten close is a time when he definitely can’t do anything about it. He slowly closed the door in case Barry had any objections. Hal took a deep breath and took off his own shirt. He didn’t want to have it be dripping wet when they went upstairs to Barry’s room, and they didn’t have a towel. He tried not to look at Barry as he stripped, left in nothing but jeans.

Barry had taken a sudden interest in the shower wall as water continued to run down his face. Hal smiled. He knelt on the floor, no sense in trying to help Barry while they were standing, there was higher risk of him falling over. He reached over towards Barry’s shirt hem and tried to keep his thoughts as clinical as possible.

“What are you doing?” Barry exclaimed.

Hal silently cursed himself. _Stupid_ , he thought, _not announcing your intentions while shirtless and reaching towards his dick. Classy, Hal_.

“Sorry, buddy,” He said, pulling back as far as he could without toppling over. “You’ve got vomit on your shirt. We need to switch it out. Also, now your pants are wet. We’re gonna have to take them off after a bit.” Barry was bright red, but he nodded his consent.

Hal took a deep breath and leaned over to Barry again. He didn’t make eye contact as he slowly reached out and pulled his friend’s shirt off. Once it was gone, Hal looked up to find Barry staring at him again, now red all through his face and chest. Hal tried to smile reassuringly, but he thought it came out like one of his usuals. All charm-filled and ready to wink.

“See? Now we can get you all cleaned up properly.” Barry kept staring, so Hal took that as a sign that he should get this over with faster.

Hal decided to start with Barry’s hair and work downward. He grabbed something his ring told him would work as shampoo and squirted a bit in his hand. It smelled okay and turned to bubbles when he had it under water, so he decided to go for it. It was at least a soap of some kind. As he worked, he decided to break the tension with comments and jokes.

“Well, I hope this is shampoo, anyway.” Hair first, go down and get his face.

“I gotta say, I’m standing by my earlier first place comment.” There, all gone. At least, he thought it was…

“Christ but you would have had a time doing this by yourself…” ears. Nothing sexual about ears.

“Yes, first place for getting this crap caked into your eyebrow.” There, forehead done, watch the eyes.

Eyes. Barry had the bluest eyes of anyone Hal knew. They were so powerful. Almost the color of the Blue Lantern rings, but with flecks of dark in them too.

Eyes. Eyes shouldn’t be staring at him and he shouldn’t be staring at them.

“Close one, almost got soap in your eye, sorry babe.” There, now for—

_Oops._

“Bar. Barry. Sorry, little drunk still.” Cheeks, mouth…

Mouth. God, it was beautiful. Full, soft looking…

Mouth. Barry still hadn’t said anything since he landed on the floor.

Mouth. Rinse, Barry probably wants to rinse his mouth out. Hal would have to get him some more water on their way upstairs and make sure they stopped to brush teeth.

“There, hard part’s over.” Just a sweep over the chest now, he can do this again tomorrow when he wakes up. Chest. His broad chest and shoulders. Bigger shoulders than he needs, running about like he does, but nonetheless appreciated.

Hal cleared his throat. “All done, buttercup,” he winced as he pulled back and turned the water off. Buttercup was almost as bad as babe. “Here, drying time.” He held out his shirt and gave Barry a perfunctory swipe with it, leaving his hair for last since the shirt wasn’t terribly absorbent and his hair had retained more water than was on the rest of him.

“All good? How are you feeling?” Hal asked, not looking Barry in the eyes as he could see Barry continuing to stare at him. “Still a bit dizzy? Can you stand?”

“Little better,” Barry nodded slowly. He used the wall for support this time and managed to rise all the way. “Actually, a lot better, I think that helped. Now I’m just cold.”

“Great,” Hal flashed a smile. “I’ll let you change then. Don’t speed, you’ll fall over again.” He jumped out of the room quickly and turned his back to it.

_Okay_ , Hal thought to himself. _Now all you’ve got to do is get him upstairs to bed. His bed. So he can sleep. Well done_.

The party that had been raging when they went into the bathroom hours ago was now down to almost nothing. The only people that were still there were sleeping on their sides in the living room. Hal assumed there were a few people in the guest rooms, but the common area was sparsely populated at best.

The door cracked and Barry stepped back out in basketball shorts and a t-shirt. Hal’s basketball shorts and Hal’s t-shirt.

“Looks like you grabbed the wrong stuff,” Barry said. He was red-faced again.

“Looks like,” Hal chuckled. The things it did to him when somebody wore his clothes, even shitty ones like this… Hal was once again aware of his shirtless state. “Time for upstairs? You need a hand?”

“Works for me,” Barry shrugged. Hal grabbed his hand and squeezed. Before he had the time to be mortified, Barry squeezed back.

_Okay, maybe less weird than it seemed like I was being_. Hal grabbed a cup of water and led them from the back of the house up to the front in order to find the stairs. It was significantly quieter than it had been when Barry first started yaking.

“Ring: time?”

“ _Four in the morning earth time_ ,” the ring replied.

“Jesus,” Hal whispered. Barry snorted. The time caught up to Hal as they made it upstairs to Barry’s room. He may not have felt very drunk when this whole thing started, but he was certainly tired enough to feel drunk now.

“Okay,” Hal started as they entered Barry’s room. “Last stop, everyone out.”

Barry chuckled lightly and shuffled his way towards the guest bed he’d been using since they arrived on Tamaran, pulling Hal along with him.

“Do you think,” Barry paused, looking down at his feet as he sat down on the bed. He was still holding Hal’s hand.

Hal decided to take over. “I was thinking I could stay on your floor, in case you need anything.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” _Shit, shit, shit…_

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t—“ Hal was cut off again.

“You can sleep up here with me. It’s the least I can do with you offering to look after me.” Hal hesitated. “Come on, get in.”

Hal shrugged when Barry turned his back. It wasn’t like they’d never slept in close quarters together. Even here, the bed was so large that it couldn’t exactly be called close. Hal watched as Barry scooted himself over to the other side of the bed and opened the covers for him. He couldn’t help the feeling that ran through his body at the sight.

“Are you sure? We really don’t have to-“

“Hal,” Barry said, giving him a look that would have put Hal on his knees in any other context. “Come to bed.”

Hal complied. He fell asleep faster than he thought he would considering the circumstances, but right before he was out he could have sworn he felt a hand on his stomach.

——

Barry wasn’t entirely sure what happened in between talking to S’thartha and waking up in the shower with Hal over him, but he was pretty sure he liked those circumstances. As Hal had continued, Barry gathered that he had actually managed to become drunk for the first time since his accident. Well, for the first time ever if he was honest. Barry didn’t get invited to many parties in college.

He hoped he hadn’t done anything too embarrassing while he was blacked out. Since he woke up in that shower staring at Hal’s naked chest, he really had to hope that he hadn’t done anything embarrassing. He had no idea how long he’d been staring.

Barry still wasn’t entirely sure what his situation was. He knew Hal hadn’t done anything, but why had he let Barry pull him into bed? Had he been just as far gone as Barry? Had he known why Barry wanted him to stay?

What would he do when he woke up and found himself spooning Barry from behind?

He felt Hal shuffle a bit and then settle back in, making Barry smile to himself. When he had first met Hal all those years ago, he had just started dating Iris. Hal was charming, funny, handsome, and smarter than most people, even their fellow heroes, gave him credit for. Barry didn’t notice it until she said something, but he had been enamored with the Green Lantern since that first moment. After three years with her, she pointed it out just to tell him it was over. She couldn’t be with someone who was in love with two people. She knew some people did that, and said she wished she could too, but she was too selfish and wanted Barry all to herself.

Iris has never been described as selfish in her life, but Barry knew what she was trying to say.

He’d done a lot of thinking since then, and a lot of crying as well. He loved Iris and nothing was going to change that, that’s something he could be sure about. Still, now that he realized why he cared so much about Hal, he couldn’t forget. It was part of his every day. When Barry didn’t see him, whether he was off world or just over in Coast City, he wondered how he was doing. When Barry did see him, they tended to be in the middle of fighting someone and Barry worried Hal would get hurt. After the fights, Barry was just glad to be able to see Hal. Then, when Hal had left again and Barry was alone, he still couldn’t stop thinking about Hal. Everything reminded him of Hal. Every innocuous brown item, especially chocolate, reminded him of Hal’s hair or eyes. Every time he looked into the sky, a small piece of him hoped that he would see a streak of green against the blue, just a little something to let Barry know that Hal was nearby.

Hal shuffled again against Barry’s back, making him smile. Once he started smiling, he couldn’t stop. Being in love with Hal Jordan may not have been the easiest thing in the world, but then again, Barry never did like taking the easy route.

"Mmpf," came a voice from behind. Warm arms slipped from around his middle, leaving cold trails behind. "Good morning."

"Morning," Barry replied. Hal jumped, sitting up in bed with eyes wide.

"Barry?" He exclaimed. Then, somewhat quieter as he attempted an air of nonchalance, "ah, Barry. How are you feeling?" He stretched to complete the illusion and Barry had to try very hard not to laugh.

"Me?" Barry asked sweetly. "Oh, I feel fine." He settled back in to look up at Hal, turning his body more towards his best friend and waiting.

"Oh, well," Hal said slowly. "That's... pardon my French but what the flying fuck?" His words were strong but his posture reminiscent of a confused puppy.

"Something wrong, Hallie?" Hal blushed down far enough that Barry couldn't see it for the blankets. _Good._ Barry remembered the word but not the circumstances, he was proud of the positive reaction. "You seem a little flustered this morning, did you have a bit too much to drink." Barry wasn't fluttering his eyelashes exactly, but he was laying it on thicker than he ever had before.

"You ah," Hal started. "How much do you remember, then?"

"Oh, enough," Barry allowed. He zipped out of bed to brush his teeth, brushing Hal's for him too, and zipped back before Hal even noticed he was gone. The poor soul was clearly too dumbfounded to notice anything other than the fact that he was shirtless and Barry was wearing his clothes. "I remember S'thartha and I talking in the kitchen, I remember taking a shower..." He figured that that outlined the situation well enough for Hal to follow.

"Well," Hal started strongly with no attempt to finish. He settled back against the bed again, propping himself up on one arm so that he was above Barry. Then, suddenly, he turned away and wouldn't look at Barry. "I guess this'll make a great story for Iris when we get back, huh?"

Barry pulled a face. Why would they... Oh. So _that's_ why Hal had been acting periodically skittish. He didn't know. Barry had thought that the mere fact he had agreed to go off world for moths would have clued Hal in to the fact that they weren't together any more but apparently he had given the man too much credit. 

"Hal," Barry started, making his best friend turn to face him across the pillows. "You really think I'd come to an alien planet and get wasted with you if I still had a girlfriend?" he watched as realization slowly made its way across Hal's features. He could see the question forming in Hal's eyes, and answered it with a look from under his eyelashes. Hal swallowed thickly.

"You mean you-" Hal started.

  
"Uh huh." Hal stared at him for a long moment, taking in the facts. Then, almost faster than Barry thought normal for a nonmeta, Hal was kissing him.

Barry couldn't help the warmth that bloomed in his chest at the feeling of his lips on Hal's, Hal's hand on his cheek, Hal's long French nose squished against his face. Everything was wonderful. Everything was beautiful. Everything was-

Hal cut off the kiss suddenly. 

"How..." Barry stared up at him, confused and waiting for him to continue. "Did you brush both of our teeth?"

"I had to be prepared," Barry smirked. Hal let out one strong bark of a laugh before he was descending on Barry again.

"You really are something else, you know that Bar?" All Barry could do was hum in agreement before Hal was kissing him again.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah um... that happened. Only the first bit up until before the shower is based off of my roommate, obviously as my buddy took the entire next day to recover, but I wanted to give you guys the conclusion I didn't get to experience! Yay fanfiction!


End file.
